Occupy Eureka organizers say they have shifted away from an around-the-clock presence at the Humboldt County Courthouse.

Chairs and couches that accumulated in front of the courthouse were removed by the Eureka Police Department this week at the request of Caltrans. Occupy Eureka member James Decker said that the group decided Wednesday to shift its focus away from the courthouse.

"Once police started repressing and driving off the normal folk, it became very hard for us to organize a protest," Decker said.

Occupy Eureka will now focus on gathering signatures for its fair wage initiative, Decker said, which seeks to enact a $12 per hour minimum wage for employees in Eureka, with an exemption for small businesses.

Decker said Occupy Eureka will still hold its nightly vigils in protest of the county's urgency ordinance -- which prohibits protest activities between 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m., among other restrictions -- and will hold occasional signature-gathering efforts in front of the courthouse.

EPD interim Chief Murl Harpham said his department's removal of furniture this weekend was done at the request of Caltrans and was an enforcement of the highway code. Harpham said the collection of couches, office chairs and armchairs limited use of the sidewalk. Harpham said EPD will hold the items for 90 days for people to claim the property. He won't know the cost of dumping them until after that time.

"Mostly it was just trash," Harpham said.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Lt. Steve Knight said the jurisdictions in front of the courthouse require cooperation between EPD, the sheriff's office and Caltrans.